Off The Beaten Path

After Dark - 4. Fire In The Sky!

October 1, 1949 saw the birth of the new People's Republic of China. This day is celebrated every year, as GuoQing Jie in China, and is one of the Golden Weeks in China.

I doubt that anyone in 1949 could have foreseen that the country would rise to such heights in such a relatively short time. This is a country that has seen it's fair share of turbulence during the early years, and after it opened up in 1978 the country has grown by leaps and bounds. Whatever people may say, it is a tribute to the extremely focussed leadership that China has. 

August 15, 1947 saw the birth of the new India. We, in our current avatar, are two years older than China is in it's current avatar. Our country is growing as well, especially in recent times. Yet the two countries have followed such different routes to economic growth, and will continue to do so. 

In my opinion, the two countries should be partners. Is this possible? Hopefully. 

October 1, 2009 saw the coming out of China, on the occasion of the 60th year of the Republic. It was quite a show, and it does reflect the growing confidence of the Chinese. The world may well take note of this.

I took the  picture above on September 30, 2004 at the Century Garden in Shanghai. The fireworks were brilliant. The fire falling from the sky heralds a change in the global power structure, some thing that will have a profound change in the way the world will function in the years to come. 

I am, still, young enough to see the way the world will change in the years to come. 

In China

I can honestly say that I love China, and I always will. It is an absolutely beautiful country. 

There has been a lot of stuff that has been written about China, the government, it's history. A lot of it is true. And, a lot of it is not true. However, to me a lot of this is not so important. 

The country in itself has some of the most stunning landscapes that I have ever seen. It has some of the best cities, and some of the worst. 

Yet, for me, what was the most important was the fact that the Chinese people are absolutely lovely people. They are warm and friendly. I have made many, many friends in the country, and the almost five years that I lived there were some of the best that I have experienced. I found myself, as a leader and, as a person. 

One of the things that I will always be grateful to China for, is that I re-discovered photography here. It will always be a great tragedy of my life that my external hard drive crashed, and with it I lost two years worth of pictures that I took in the country. Pictures in Beijing, JiuZhaiGou, Zhang Jia Jie, Shanghai, Nei Menggu, all gone. This is one of the curses of digital photography, I think.

I hope that I get the chance to travel again in China, to photograph the country, and to carry on my friendship with the people of the country. Maybe, I shall. 

I resumed photography in LiJiang, a stunningly beautiful town in Yunnan province. The new town, pictured above, is faceless like many new towns. Square and without character. The old town, now that is something else altogether. 

When I left China, I was given a plaque. A map of the country, with soil collected from several parts of the country,inside the map. It was a beautiful gesture. 

Since I intend to keep this memento with me, I guess I will always have a little bit of China with me for the rest of my days!